Somers Avenue rebuild bumped up in priority

Whitefish City Council has decided to move Somers Avenue up on its priority list for resort tax funded reconstruction projects.

Council voted May 5 to place Somers second after the West Seventh Street project. The Resort Tax Monitoring Committee recommended moving Somers up on the list.

John Lyman, who has lived on Somers since 1972, asked council for his street to be rebuilt, saying it is dangerous because of the number of potholes.

“It’s in dire need,” he said. “Any way we can expedite that project it would be greatly appreciated.”

Somers Avenue has deteriorated asphalt and an 80-plus-year-old cast iron water main subject to leaks and ineffective storm drainage, according to city Public Works Director John Wilson.

The Somers project includes roadway reconstruction along with curbs and sidewalks, water main replacement and drainage improvements from East Second to East Eighth Street. The change is expected to move up the Somers project to 2017 rather than wait until 2021 as previously planned.

Previous plans for the street included to reconstruct Somers as a phased project over a 7- to 8-year period as a bare bones project without new curb, gutter or new sidewalks. However, the city discovered that the grade of the street would require extensive sections of new curb and gutter, according to Wilson.

The next priority projects following West Seventh and Somers are now Edgewood Place, Karrow Avenue and State Park Road.

East Edgewood needs storm drainage and sidewalk improvements. Karrow Avenue is considered in reasonable condition, but a new bicycle path would provide a connection to the city trail system. State Park Road has substantial need for drainage improvements to serve the area and a proposed trail would provide a connection between Highway 93 and State Park.

Sixty-five percent of the revenue from Whitefish’s 2 percent resort tax is used to rebuild city streets.